モンスターゼロ Monster Zero
by J.G. Whitefield
Summary: Nearly a decade has past since the destruction wrought by the dreaded M.U.T.O.s. and the victorious King of the Monsters remains elusive save for the occasional grainy cell phone video. Dr. Serizawa has been drawn to the barren Antarctic by a series of strange events. Unknown to humanity a destructive force has been unleashed one that may be even too much for Godzilla...
1. Prologue: Discovery

**Discovery**

"If I tell you what actually happened how could you possibly believe me?

_We saw it, we both saw the damn thing!" _

Dr. Ishiro Serizawa glanced over at his colleague, Dr. Roger Macfield, gently clicking off the mic. "How long has it been since contact?" "Given our best estimates on radiation exposure about 12 hours give or take." Macfield stubbed out his cigarette as he looked into the control room at the disheveled man covered in thick frost, visibly shaken by what he'd seen. "_I know my rights! You can't keep me here any longer!" _"Mr. Westmorland please bear with us, we need to know exactly what you and your team saw out there." Serizawa calmly spoke into the mic never betraying his true emotions. This was different…far different than what they'd seen with M.U.T.O or Gojira now over a decade ago. Never before had a close encounter left all the witness's suffering from acute radiation sickness. "We've isolated and measured isotopes Ishiro." Macfield's sullen face resembled that of a corpse, the hours of research had not been kind to the 50 year old molecular biologist. "They're like nothing we've ever seen before, the amount of energy makes uranium look like a house hold battery. The closest we've come to identifying the signature are those from dead pulsars." The weary doctor unfurled a graph showing the familiar signature of a gamma ray burst. "This is your dying star." Rolling out another sheet. "This is from this morning." Ishira's eyes widened as he looked at the near identical signatures. "My god." "Somethin' is cooking out there and it ain't friendly."

16:00 near Amundsen-Scott, Antarctica

The distinctive chop of rotors cut through the frigid air as the brutish Mil Mi-8 skirted the desolate landscape below, a familiar 60's tune faintly crackled over the intercom mixed with the roar of the rotor wash. Jack Westmorland tried his best to warm himself in the negative 40 degree air, dry like the deserts of the southwest yet distinctive, like little knives poking his skin. He'd figured by now he had grown accustom to the merciless Antarctic weather. It had been close to 4 months since he'd set foot on the magnetic south pole at Scott base, yet he still couldn't shake the frigid grip of this unforgiving land. "Hey yankee boy!" Jack glanced across the cargo hold toward a portly red bearded man dressed in a yellow blue parka. "Yeah you yankee boy!" The man held out a featureless bottle filled with a clear liquid. "You still cold?! This'll do the trick." He spoke with a thick Norwegian accent. "S-Sorry I don't drink." "Eh, you will yankee boy, this cold…the only way to fight her off is with some good ole fashioned Vodka!" Jack glanced at his fellow explorer seated across the isle. These Norwegians were at home out here, he'd never thought a human could last so long out in the elements but they proved him wrong. "My names Jack." "Ok Jack, you want some? Trust me this stuff will get rid of those tiny icy knives."

"Aw, what the hell! It's not like it can get any worse?" Jack grabbed the bottle from the Norwegian, popping the cork off. *Swig* "Say I didn't catch your name?" "Oh, my name? It's Geir Baardsson, been in this shit hole for 5 years! You'll get used to it or you'll crack." "Uh, crack?" Geir made a cuckoo sign as he took the Vodka back. *Swig* "I've seen plenty of big guy come out here thinking their superman. In a couple of months they get sent back crying like little babies." "Oh, that makes sense." Jack pictured himself curled up in a ball sobbing, losing all hope. "But you have deh look Jack!" Geir gave him a hefty pat on the back. "The look?" "Yes I can tell, you've got the look of someone whose seen the worst and can stand this icy hell." Distant memories of his time in Afghanistan began to bubble up in his mind causing Westmorland to shudder. "So, Jack why are we going out to the ass end of this wonderful land!?" "Well, Geir the plans to take some core samples of the ice shelve." "You want ice? Just go outside and stick your hands in the ground!" The boisterous Norwegian was beginning to grow on him, at least he managed a sense of humor in this gloomy place. "Heh, not a bad idea Geir. Only problem is we have to test this particular shelve for recession." *Swig* "Eh, that global warming crap huh? If you ask me it's all a bunch of bull. Look Jack, look at all the damn snow out there!" Jack glanced out the window as Geir continued on his conspiracy tirade, noticing the snow covered wasteland growing closer. The faint 60's music stopped as the intercom buzzed to life. "We're making our decent now, hold on."

Jack Westmorland adjusted his snow shoes as the frigid air blasted his face. *Crackle* "This is mother goose, see ya in an hour Red Team." "Copy that mother goose!" He placed the hand held back in it's holster as the Mi-8 lumbered off into the overcast sky. "Where to Jack?!" Geir hollered over the deafening roar of the wind. "About 100yards east!" The Norwegian gave him a thumbs up as the two made their way over the thick ice. The mission was simple enough, take about 12 core samples of the ice sheet, place them in the container, haul it back to the chopper, and check the results. Geir lifted the 100lb coring drill up to the location while Westmorland jotted down some numbers. "This is the spot lets get to work!"

A couple of sputters from the small engine and the drill began to do it's work. Jack tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he and Geir were the only living souls for about 100miles, the thought made him feel uneasy. "That's core one! Eleven more and we can get the hell out of here, right Jack!" "Amen to that!" Both felt as though they were being watched, the uneasy feeling that someone or something was sitting right outside their periphery. Several agonizing minutes passed while they continued their monotonous task, the motor growling and howling with each inch of ice. "When we get back I skype my wife and kids!" Geir smiled as he continued steadying the drill. "You got kids Jack?!" Jack thought of his ex-wife and the messy divorce right before he made his way to Antarctica. "Nah, how many kids do you have Geir?!" The small talk seemed to make the operation go that much quicker. "Two beautiful little girls! Nina and Siri!" "How old?!" "4 and 7, the oldest takes after her papa, always getting into trouble!" "Well Geir I promise we'll get this over with quick so you can see them tonight!" "Thanks Jack!" *Click* The drill motor sputtered and with another gurgle died.

"What the hell!" Geir tried his best to restart the motor, but the drill was shot. "That damn drill was supposed to be brand new, what's going on here?!" Jacks mind raced as he noticed his fellow researcher grow dead quiet. "Geir what's wrong?" "J-J-Jack you should take a look at this…." He could hardly believe his eyes, thin hair line cracks were starting to form around the drill site and Geir. It was impossible, the shelve here is supposed to be at least 60ft thick. "Don't move!" "Jack I…" To his horror Westmorland watched the Norwegian vanish beneath the ice, before he could react the cracks spread underneath his own feet, then everything went dark. He could feel his body being thrown against the ice, the pain nearly knocking him unconscious. After falling for what seemed like an hour, Jack felt his body halt against damp soil floor. Thankfully all expeditions came equipped with a survival kit just incase. A click and the faint neon light from Jacks glow stick lit the strange humid cavern. The walls were covered in frothy white residue that resembled mucus, the smell was close to unbearable, a mix of rotten flesh and stagnant water. "This looks almost organic." He looked up toward the dim light coming from where he'd been swallowed. "What the hell is this?" "JACK, JACK!"

Jack made his way toward the Norwegians voice. "Thank god he's alright!" Geir stood in the middle of a large cavern, the narrow cave gradually widened until Westmorland could no longer see the walls. "Geir are you alright?" "Yes-yes, that was quite the fall eh Jack?" "Shit Geir don't scare me like that!" "Hey relax, I was on north pole expedition, we were stranded for almost 60 day's, this is nothing!" The Norwegian took a nervous swig from his trusty Vodka bottle. "So what is dis place?" "I have no idea, this climate is subtropical, I can't believe it's buried under 60ft of ice." "We make big discovery Jack?" "Hell yes, think we might of stumbled upon a remnant of the old Antarctica before it became ice covered, this is a pocket of what it used to be." "So this is some kind of fossil?" "No, not a fossil but a full ecological pocket over 33 million years old." "Christ that's pretty old!" "This changes everything Geir! The amount of knowledge we could gain from this place!"

The Norwegian looked around nervously at slime covered walls. "We should call back to mother goose." "Definitely." *Crackle* The researchers were met with only static. "Hmph, that's strange seems the ground clutter is interfering with our comm link." "Uh, what do you mean by ground clutter?" Jack looked around at the cavern, oddly enough there was no sign of iron, but something was throwing off a massive magnetic pulse. "All this area must be highly magnetized. Come to think of it that's what probably caused the drill to seize up." ***RUMBLE*** Both researchers were knocked off their feet by the large tremor. "What the hell was that?" "Holy shit, Jack look at this!" They looked ahead, greeted with an unimaginable sight. Nestled into the cavern was a massive object, which looked to be covered in both ice and the strange slime. The only thing Westmorland could think of was a comet, but this was strangely shaped, almost resembling a chrysalis. "Geir wait?!" Ignoring Jack's request the Norwegian touched the colossal object examining the sticky sap like residue in his gloved hand. "It's like syrup!" "Geir don't lay another hand on that fuckin' thing!" "Relax it's just some sticky big rock!" "No it's not, it-it's moving…" Geir quickly backed away as they watched the skin of the object ripple, as though it were breathing. "Wha-what the hell is it?!"

"I don't know but we need to get out of here now!" ***RUMBLE* **The chrysalis began to glow an iridescent yellow as the tremors grew more violent. "Come on let's go!" Before they could turn to run both were bathed in a blinding light. Jack felt the flesh on his arms begin to burn as he shielded his eye's. As it subsided he heard Gier violently vomiting to his right. He fought off the urge to wretch himself as he made his way over to the Norwegian. Upon a closer look Gier was in horrible shape, clothing and skin smoldering as he writhed in pain. "J-J-J-Jack…" *Cough* "Stay with me Geir!" Jack tried to calm his colleague. "It'll be alright, you'll see your wife and kids again I promise!" *Wheeze* "Bullshit…here t-take this." The Norwegian handed Westmorland a photograph, with the words vi elsker deg scrawled on the back. Two beautiful blonde little girls and a warmly smiling brunette woman stared back at Jack. "W-Was I lying?" "No Geir, their beautiful." "T-tell them I send my love." "I will Geir, I will." The Norwegian died there in the cavern. Jack looked back at the glowing chrysalis, it seemed to watching him preparing for it's next kill. "What did we wake up?"


	2. Chapter 1: A New Weapon

**A New Weapon**

**09:00 UC Santa Cruz, California**

"If we look at the recent appearance of Humble Squid populations off the California Coast, coupled with the explosive population increase of Nomura Jellyfish in the Sea of Japan, we see a distinctive correlation between these two events." The darkened auditorium was lit only by the faint glow of a projector as images of squids and masses of jellyfish filled a large screen. "Does anyone care to explain the reason for these non-native species and population explosions?"

Students awkwardly shuffled in their seats as young man of about 20 sat fixated on his I-phone checking the recent sport stats.

"Mr. Walker?!"

The confused student looked up from his desk.

"Do you care to enlighten us on the cause?" A backlit shadow loomed over the embarrassed student.

"I, uh…does it have something to do with Godzilla?"

"No Mr. Walker, it doesn't directly correspond with the appearance of Godzilla. Although, you could say it does effect his environment and resources. You're killing me here guy's, what did I say about electronics?!"

The student quickly settled back down in his seat, checking the coast was clear he went back to the sports stats. "The reason behind all these problems is temperature, the oceans are getting warmer and this is throwing the whole ecological system off balance. I expect you're research articles no later than 12pm tomorrow." The stalky young professor turned off the PowerPoint, kneading his temple in frustration as the class shuffled out the door.

Professor Stephen Martin, had been at UC Santa Cruz for nearly 6 years now. Despite being tenured and gaining praise for his papers on oceanographic research and climatology ; he was mostly know for his book on Godzilla, _Separating Monster from Myth. _The book theorized that Godzilla acted as an equalizer to the global environment in a similar fashion to how white blood cells are called upon to remove foreign bodies except in this case the foreign bodies were the invasive M.U.T.O.s. Unfortunately, the best selling work earned the 39 year old professor a rock star status among fringe scientists and disapproval from his colleagues. Martin looked to be in his late twenties, 6ft 5, built like a basketball player, casually dressed and sporting a trimmed beard, more at home at a rock concert than teaching a classroom of ungrateful little snots. The faculty chair had relegated him to teaching basic marine biology and climatology, fearing his prowess would outshine the old guard.

"Still wearing that awful get-up huh?!" Steve turned toward a familiar voice.

Dr. Daisuke Nakahara stood at the auditorium door smiling at the frustrated Professor Martin.

"And I see your still as stodgy as ever Daisuke."

Steve made his way over to the slender Japanese man dressed in formal business attire, giving him hug. "Christ what's it been 7 years!?"

"5 last I checked, how's the teaching gig going?"

"Same as always, pile the crap on the young guy so the rest of the faculty looks good. How's Emiko?"

"Great, she manages to put up with my crazy proclivities. Say, you ever thought about going back out in the field? Half the kids I've got working under me don't know up from down."

"Nah, I've put those day's behind me, got to pass the torch on. I was just about to grab somethin to eat, would you mind coming along?" Steve gathered his papers off the podium.

"Sure, I don't have to be back at the lab till 3."

Both men sat down to eat at an ocean side café, the mid-day California sun glinting off the deep cobalt Pacific. As a young waitress walked away Daisuke's face grew serious. "Steve would you mind if I ran something by you."

"Not at all, though I thought we'd save the science talk for a more professional setting."

Daisuke grabbed the nearby salt shaker. "Bear with me here Steve." Martin watched inquisitively as his friend held up the shaker. "Now imagine this is an air pocket and the salt, oxygen molecules, nitrogen molecules, and any other matter."

"Ok, gotcha."

"Now…" Steve was quite perplexed as Daisuke emptied the confines of the salt shaker on the table. "If we were to remove the matter we'd be left with a-."

"A vacuum, come on Daisuke I'm familiar with high school chemistry."

"Precisely Steve, now imagine if by some force you were able to create a perpetual vacuum." Steve knew that vacuums were easily created with the right equipment, the military had even used bombs on caves in Afghanistan to create a vacuum, sucking all the oxygen out.

"Sorry Daisuke but vacuums are easily created, hell we use them in our labs at UC."

"Yes, but imagine a perpetual vacuum."

"Perpetual?"

"Self sustaining, like in outer space." Professor Martins eyes widened as he realized what Daisuke was implying.

"Christ, you don't mean?!"

Daisuke gleefully smiled as his friend realized what he was getting at. "Antimatter."

"How did you?"

"We used the research you and I gathered from the events in San Francisco 10 years ago, turns out your monster friend uses a similar method for creating his ionized breath."

"You're joking."

"No, my team and I were surprised by the results ourselves." Steve grabbed a napkin and tried to remember the readings they'd gotten off the damage from Godzilla's ionized breath. "Turns out when you create a self sustaining vacuum the void is filled with an exponential amount of antiparticles filling the atomic gaps that were left by matter." Scientists had tried for decades to create a substantial amount of antimatter, the best researchers at CERN and other labs had managed was 10 milligrams at a cost of $250milion. Furthermore these particles were very difficult to contain requiring specialized equipment.

"This-this is unbelievable, how do I know your not bullshitin' me?"

Daisuke couldn't contain his amusement at Steve's disbelief. "I'll show you."

**13:00 IO TECH Research Labs **

Steve shivered as he and Daisuke made their way into the innermost complex at IO Tech. The company had humble beginnings starting off through hefty grants via Cal Tech. Naturally many of Daisuke's research assistants were post grads looking to get a head start before going on to bigger and better things. IO Techs funding and status among research facilities had blossomed following several breakthroughs in Alfvén-Klein cosmology and idea of ambiplasma (_the scientific train of thought which held that the dynamics of the universe were comprised of ionized gases and plasmas which played an important role in extra solar physics._) As with Dr. Martins biological Godzilla research, Dr. Daisuke Nakahara had dealt with much ridicule from the established astrophysics community, fortunately his recent breakthroughs had cemented his reputation as the foremost mind on the matter. "Sorry about the cold Steve we have to store the containment units and coolant for the magnets at -60° C."

"Hey, no worries, beats the hell out of cooking in the sun. So where is your magnum opus?"

"Right here." Steve couldn't help but notice how excited Daisuke was to show off IO Techs newest creation akin to 5 year old brining his favorite new toy to show and tell. The pair approached a set of thick reinforced steel doors armed with a key card lock.

"Good afternoon Dr. Nakahara." Dr. Martin turned toward the soft voice, a petit 20 something young woman brushed the blonde bangs from her forehead. Despite the lab coat Steve couldn't help but notice her exquisite features, looking more at home in a Sports Illustrated swim suit addition then in this cold austere place.

"Ah, Christine good morning. How are our readouts on the unit?"

"About 425lbs per minute." Steve nearly toppled over at the information.

"Wait 425lbs of antimatter?!"

Daisuke sheepishly grinned at his friends astonishment. "That's low, considering the readouts we've gotten recently."

"Wait, recently?"

"Yeah, the output has increased tenfold over the last couple of day's, we have no idea as to why. We think it may have something to do with distant gamma ray bursts."

"Huh, that's strange I would've never thought something light years away would have such a visible effect on something here."

"Well we're discovering new things each day, breaking down the doors of theoretical physics."

"Ehem."

Daisuke turned toward his lab assistant "Oh, yes, Steve this is my top lab assistant Christine Sullivan. Christine this is professor Steve Martin with UC Santa Cruz."

The attractive young blonde gave Steve a surprisingly firm handshake. "It's a pleasure Professor Martin. Say, aren't you?"

"Yes, the Godzilla guy." Steve felt his face blush a little bit, he had to cope with his recent celebrity, traveling cross-country to pitch the new book. _Jesus, I wish people would read some of my other work for a change. _During every intro to climatology class the question of that damn lizard would pop up. Dr. Martin couldn't help but feel prospective students registered for his courses just to hear about Godzilla.

"I loved your book! But the part on particle dynamics was a little crude." Christine brimmed with confidence a character you'd rarely find among the introverted lab crowd.

"Yeah, I suppose I could've been a little more thorough."

"Well it was nice meeting you Dr. Martin."

"Likewise." Steve hoped they'd meet again, he could'nt shake the deep attraction he'd felt looking into those jade pools and golden angel hair.

"Tenacious, eh Steve." Daisuke gave his friend a nudge. "Christine has been with us for 4 years now one of our best. I could getcha her contact info if you'd like."

"No that's quite alright. Now let's see your crown jewel."

After a swipe from Daisuke's card the doors slowly opened with a prolonged hiss. "Here she is Steve, the De-Oxygenator."

* * *

_**Apologies for all the sciencey talk in this chapter, have to build up the characters though.**_


	3. Chapter 2: Kitamatsu Mine Disaster

**Kitamatsu Mine Disaster**

**01:00 Kitamatsu Mine near Kyushu**

Shigeru Kawamura made his way into the foreboding darkness as the automated mine car clacked and jostled over the steel track. The call was sudden, a possible gas leak in the deepest quadrant of the mine. Following several recent mining disasters in China, the Kitamatsu Mine Commission had no desire to see their facility plastered all over the front page news.

"CRACKLE-Shigeru, this is Yoshi do you have a visual on the area-Over?"

Shigeru steadied the mine cart as he drew closer to the center of the mine. Wiping the steady droplets of water from his forehead he grabbed the nearby hand held. "Almost there. Seems to be an unusual amount of condensation, we might have possibly hit an aquifer-Over."

Back at operations command, a dilapidated prefab trailer, Yoshi Sato and the rest of the emergency response team sat looking at several computer monitors. The team comprised of only 12 individuals, all with proper hazmat training, yet they weren't expecting the sudden alarm call on their night off. "That's a negative Shigeru, the monitors pick up no unusual water levels. You should be on site now. Confirm?"

The cart came to an abrupt stop as the miner readied his portable oxygen tank. "Hisssss, I've got a visual-Over." Shigeru clicked on his head lamp as he made his way from the cart, adjusting his mask.

"Shigeru, the area should be about 50 yards ahead -Over."

Heavy breaths reverberated through the mask as his light reflected off the slick rock. "I-Cha-coming-cha- up-cha- to-cha-sight." There was no sign of a gas explosion or fire damage, yet something was off about the area. "Cha-sending video-cha-feed now."

"Ok I've got the feed." Yoshi looked at the fuzzy night vision image up on one the monitors. "Doesn't seem to be any damage. Get some readings then we'll call it a night."

"Cha-sounds good, taking readings now." Shigeru reached for his methane detector watching the needle stay steady at the normal read out. "Yoshi cha-I'm-getting regular read outs here."

"Good, we'll have the regular work crew check out the area tomorrow, it was probably an electric malfunction." Yoshi went to turn off Shigeru's feed when one of the other workers stopped him.

"Wait, what's that over in quadrant four?" Yoshi looked back at the feed, it was odd considering quadrant four was normally an emergency tunnel, yet there seemed to be a large boulder blocking it's entrance.

"Shigeru, I need you to take another look at quadrant four for us." The miner was sure they'd had a cave-in, perhaps it set the alarms off. Then again the measurements showed no sign of rock displacement.

"Ok, checking quadrant four." Shigeru's flashlight shimmered off the cave-in where a large brown boulder had completely blocked off the entire tunnel entrance. "Cha-You getting this Yoshi?"

"Yeah. That's some weird looking rock, you think it could anthracite?" The entire emergency response team had gathered around Yoshi's monitor, memorized by their strange discovery.

"Negative-cha-it looks almost like-like skin." Shigeru stood about two feet from the boulder, it's outer surface resembled the thick pebbled hide of a rhinoceros. Upon further examination the miner discovered circular wrinkles off set to one side of the rock. He calmly ran his flash light down it's entire length, reaching the strange wrinkled area. Slowly the folds retracted to reveal a massive amber hued reptilian eye staring directly back at him. "OH MY GOD!" Terrified Shigeru stumbled backwards dropping his equipment as he bid a hasty retreat back toward the mine cart.

"SHIGERU? SHIGERU? COME IN, WHAT THE HELLS GOING ON DOWN THERE?!" The above ground team was met with only frantic breaths. "JESUS SHIGERU ANSWER ME?!" "We've lost feed." One of the other miners chimed as they continued trying to raise their friend on the radio**. "GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" **Their attention was suddenly drawn outside the trailer as an inhuman howl erupted over the mountain side shaking the men to their core. "What…was that?!" One of the miners panicked, frantically opening the trailer door and disappearing into the nearby woods. "SHIGERU CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

"I-it's h-h-huge, I can get away!" The miners voice was but a whisper over the radio. "It's everywhere!" Several tense seconds past before the other miners heard Shigeru screaming in agony. "Ahhhhhh!"

"SHIGERU WHAT'S EVERY WHERE?! COME IN! SHIGERU!" Yoshi Sato and his team were met with only ghostly static. On queue the monitors began to go haywire as the emergency claxon sounded. "What hell is going on here?!"

"We're getting warnings in all quadrants Yoshi! The whole mines gone to hell!"

The prefab trailer jostled as the ground began to violently shake. Nearby elevated water tanks ruptured followed by several fire balls from the gas and electric lines intermingling. Yoshi Sato slowly made his way out of the trailer as the rest of the mine team tried to make sense of the unfolding catastrophe. The miner was greeted with an inconceivable sight as the mountain side began to flex and buckle, jets of steam rising from the mine shaft. Earth cracked with a thundering roar as the mountain began to collapse inward creating a gargantuan sinkhole. Growing outward at an exponential rate the crater swallowed what remained of the mangled Kitamatsu Mine as a massive form emerged from the frothing earth. Yoshi stood still, closing his eyes as death swiftly approached in the form of pyroclastic flow.

* * *

**_Uh-oh, looks like somebody just woke up..._**


	4. Chapter 3: Intercept

**INTERCEPT**

01:45 Kumamoto Air Traffic Control

Jun faced her glowing radar scope tracking the telemetry data for over 150 commercial flights over south western Japan. The job was tedious and time consuming but the slightest lack of attentiveness could costs the lives of hundreds.

"Hey, Jun. I'm gonna grab a cup of coffee, you mind watching my area for a minute."

"Sure thing, can ya bring me back some please?"

"Why not, its a slow night anyways." Her colleague left the darkened control room.

Tonight seemed eerily quite for Kumamoto airspace, usually bustling with commuter flights to and from the metropolitan areas, the radar scopes were practically clear. Jun continued watching the IFF transponders when another blip caught her eye. To the edge of the scope an unidentified target jumped across the screen. "What the hell?" She checked the other signals to make sure they weren't experiencing anomaly's following the small tremor near Kyushu. "Flight 535, this is KATC do you have visual on another flight about 5 nautical miles south-south east of your position." Jun tried to remain calm and collected as the unknown target reappeared closer to the transmitting 535.

"This is 535, that's a negative, we have no visual on a target."

"I'm now tracking it 2 miles from your position 535." The contacts were so close they appeared as one return. Warnings began to flash for an impending mid-air collision. "535 he's right on top of you."

"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD WHAT IS THAT!? JIM ARE YOU SEEING THIS?"

"YEAH, WHAT IS IT?!"

Jun's heart began to race at the pilots frantic voices over the radio as the returns continued. "Whoever it is they got no transponder. Could it be an attack?" "FLIGHT 535 DO YOU COPY? 535 PLEASE COME IN?! 535?!"

"This is 535 we uh….had a visual of the target heading towards Tsuiki."

"Sigh" Jun looked astonished as the unidentified target vanished as quickly as it had appeared the whole ordeal lasting only 40secs. Given the objects speed and closure rate she determined it to be traveling upwards of 2,000 miles per hour. "Flight 535 do you wish to make a report?"

"We'd prefer not to KATC."

"Copy 535, keep on your heading."

Jun's colleague returned with her coffee. "So I miss anything special?"

"Well…. we had a UFO in our airspace." She couldn't contain her excitement over the event, heart still thundering in her ears.

"Bullshit Jun! Don't pull that crap with me. Was probably just an anomalous read out or something.

"We nearly had a mid air collision with a flight and a confirmed visual, and your telling me it was nothing?!" Her frustration was beginning to show. "I checked the telemetry data and the bastard was traveling over 1.73700 knots! No known aircraft can reach anywhere near those speeds."

"Pssht, was probably just a Blackbird coming over from Kadena. Jun."

"That's impossible, they retired those years ago!"

Her colleague looked troubled by the news. "Hey Jun, let's just keep this quiet. I don't want to lose my job. You know what they do to peoples careers after they report shit like this?"

"Yeah, you're right, we should probably keep it on the DL." Jun remember the famed incident with JAL 1628 and it's aftermath which saw commanding officer, Captain Terauchi, flying a desk for the rest of his career. These kind of incidents spelled certain doom for anyone willing to speak up about them.

* * *

01:49 Near Tsuiki JSDF Airbase

Major Ueda steadied the throttles as he reset the search mode on his F-15 Eagle's APG-63 radar. The training flight had suddenly been vectored off to another quadrant inland away from the regular combat training area over the Sea of Japan. Ueda, callsign Nomad, had never been asked to redirect a training flight while working with newbie pilots out of Tsuiki. He searched the plum colored horizon for any sign of incoming bogey's, their GCI officer sounded quite distraught when he ordered the course correction, his only other instruction was to stay on sight an fly a tight CAP. As he set the Eagle at a comfortable altitude his head set crackled to life.

"Excuse me sir, what's with the course change?" 1st Lieutenant Yamaguchi nervously asked his flight lead as he worked his Eagle into a trail position off Nomads starboard wing. This was only his sixth time behind the controls of an Eagle and his first time flying an actual CAP. Normally he'd be sitting this out due to his lack of flight time behind the controls.

"Beats the hell out of me rookie. All I was told is that we're to remain on station and await further orders. Say this is your first combat air patrol isn't Yamaguchi?" Nomad could sense the fear in the student pilots voice, he certainly didn't like the idea of brining a rookie out on a combat flight.

"Y-Yes sir."

"Hey, relax Yamaguchi there's nothing to it. Besides I'm in lead, if we come across any bad guys up here, I'll be the first hit on their radars. This is probably just some reassurance for the top brass to make sure we're deployable at a moments notice." Nomad did notice the airspace had 0 identifiable friendlies in the area. They truly were out in the Styx, alone.

Crackle- "B flight you're permitted full weapons armed hot."

"This is B flight lead, did you say full weapons armed hot?"

Crackle- "Roger, await further orders…wait we've go it again."

"It? Excuse me but what the hell are you guy's tracking down there?"

Crackle- "B flight we've got a confirmed bogey in restricted airspace, you are cleared to intercept, heading zero-nine-zero-one."

"Copy that, heading for merge with unknown bogey. You get all that rookie?"

"Uh….yes sir!"

"Just stay on my wing and keep your eye's peeled. For all we know it could be some idiot in a Cessna who forgot to turn his transponder on." Nomad hoped that was the case as he un-caged the seeker heads on his AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. They approached the designated interception point as the contact came in on the Heads Up Display. "Jesus Christ!" The closure speed of the bogey was unimaginable, clearly not the Cessna they were hoping for. "This is Nomad I've got a confirmed BVR hit on bogey with radar, awaiting orders."

Crackle- "Major Ueda, this is General Stalgard with U.S. PACAF."

"Who the hell is this? What happened to Tsuiki Control?!"

Crackle- "I'm requesting you to not fire upon the target. If bandit engages- you are permitted to shoot when you see a clear opening, understand?"

Nomads mind raced as the target drew closer an closer toward their position. _What was PACAF doing at Tsuiki? How we're they able to get on the secure frequency. _

"

Excuse me General, but I'd like to know exactly what it is we're dealing with up here." Several seconds past as the radar got a lock on the incoming target. "Be alert rookie we've got a bandit up here."

"Copy that sir, weapons are ready, I've got the target on my radar closing in fast."

Heh, this kid ain't too bad afterall, he's keeping his cool.

Nomad lined the confirmed bandit up in his HUD pointing the jets nose directly toward the incoming target, and pushing the throttles forward. Both F-15's rocketed forward as their afterburners lit the night sky racing to catch up to the bandit.

Crackle- "Major Ueda, this Stalgard, I confirm your position. Switch to radio frequency 1-2 mega hertz."

"Switching to 1-2 mega hertz."

Crackle- "Can your wing man hear us?"

Nomad waited for a response from Yamaguchi but was greeted only with the low growl from the AIM-7's seeker head. _This things radar returns the size of a damn baseball field. _As the target drew nearer he could distinguish an unusual silhouette heading directly in their flight path. _It looks like fucking pterodactyl! _

Crackle- "Good, Major we're now on a top secret frequency." Stalgards hoarse voice came in over Nomads headset. "What you're about to see is called a MUTO. A massive unidentified terrestrial organism."

Images of the Janjira nuclear plant disaster and the hellish battle in San Francisco shot through Major Ueda's mind as he hovered his thumb over the pickle button. "A MUTO?! You mean to tell me there's more of those bastards?!"

Crackle- "Well not quite, those creatures your familiar with, the ones Godzilla destroyed, those were parasitic MUTO's. This creature is far-far different, we call him Rodan."

"Rodan?" Ueda tightened his grip on the controls easing the throttle back as the creature approached the pair of F-15's. He could clearly see it's monstrous features, resembling a cross between a classic pterodactyl and some nightmarish mutant. It's wingspan stretched nearly 200 meters, and it's underside was lined with wicked rows of serrated bones, resembling sharks teeth.

"Sir?! What-what is that?!" Yamaguchi's frantic voice yelled over the radio, clearly the rookie pilot was ill equipped to deal with their current predicament.

"Hey Yamaguchi, stay calm, keep steady on my wing. I promise we'll get through this." Ueda hung on his own words for a moment, would they really survive an encounter with such a colossal creature? This thing certainly wasn't friendly, probably hell bent on ripping apart some unsuspecting town.

Crackle- "Major, trail him. Do not engage understand?"

Rodan was upon the flight in an instant cruising by the two-ship blocking out the night sky with it's tough leathery hide. The creature flew with an eerie gracefulness akin to an albatross. Ueda was too terrified to answer back as his eye's trailed the colossal creature mere feet from his cockpit. Time slowed to a crawl as Ueda looked toward his wingman Yamaguchi. The tip of creatures bat like wing sliced through the F-15's like a knife through butter. Nomads plane jostled and rolled from the blast as Yamaguchi and his aircraft were instantly incinerated. Warning alarms blared over Nomads head set as the jet entered a flat spin. Disorientation set in as the ground and sky mixed into a blur, Nomads body was pressed back into his ejection seat as the g's hit him. Using all his strength he fire walled the F-15's throttles. The sickening rotations slowed until Ueda had gained control of the Eagle leveling off at about 300ft.

Crackle- "Major Ueda, do you have a VID of the creature?! Come In!"

Nomad turned the Eagle sharply toward the creature, lining the massive target up with the F-15's radar as he climbed up past the cloud of smoke and falling debris that used to be his wingman's Eagle. He knew he was generating good angles on the target as the distinctive growl from the missiles seeker head replied over his head set.

Crackle- "Come in do you have VID? ANSWER ME DAMN-IT!"

"Nomad, Fox One!" Ueda felt the missile drop from the aircraft as it's rocket motor roared to life closing in on the target. The missile carried itself strait into the monster riding the Eagles radar beam. Rodan was engulfed by a large fireball. "Got you bastard!" The Eagle pilot breathed a sigh of relief as the creature vanished amidst the swirling crimson ball.

Crackle- "What did you do?! You idiot!"

"Scratch one monster off your list general." Before Ueda could nurse his damaged aircraft back to base the creature reappeared, unharmed, and heading straight toward the lone fighter jet. "Shit!" Another missile lock on the charging beast and Ueda ripple fired his remaining three AIM-7 missiles, each impacting the fearsome monster at point blank range. Rodan swept through the massive fire ball, 200 meter wings leaving a churning vortex of fire in their wake. Seconds before the creature reached Nomads F-15, the pilot skillfully fired his 4 AIM-9 heat seeking missiles in it's path, pulling the ejection handle. Ueda felt the sudden blast of cold air smack his face as he watched Rodan rip through his F-15 with ease before losing consciousness. Ueda came too in a dense pine forest his body dangling several feet from the ground still latched to the parachute. Click, the pilots body fell to the forest floor with a loud thud. The Major tried to regain his bearings as the distant whop of rotor blades got his attention. Three jet black UH-1 Huey's came into view, the word Monarch stenciled on their tails in large white letters.

* * *

Fighter pilot lingo- **VID-(Visual Identification), HUD-(Heads Up Display-the piece of glass the pilot looks through when flying a fighter jet, CAP-(Combat Air Patrol), GCI-(Ground Controlled Intercept)**

Thanks for reading!

-J.G.


	5. Chapter 4: The King Returns

**The King Returns**

**03:00 Sea of Japan**

"Christ another load of jellyfish?!" Isao chewed on his Monte Cristo as he angrily puffed several clouds of smoke watching his deckhands reel in a net full of Nomura Jellyfish.

"Sorry boss." One of the crew struggled to handle the gelatinous mass as it spilled over the deck.

Twelve hours of trawling and all the Kongō had to show for it were worthless envenomed fish and 12,000lbs of hulking jelly fish. The constant useless loads of Nomura's were crippling the fishing the industry and Isao's bank account. He had to sell off most of his worldly belongings to keep the ship not to mention losing his other assets to the horrific Tsunami. Isao leaned back in his chair tipping his baseball cap to try and fruitlessly gain a moments rest. The Kongō slowly drifted with the current as her massive halogens lit the darkened abyss below, ravenous seagulls swarmed above waiting for their share of the worthless catch. Several of the deckhands took a quick break from shoveling Nomura's off the deck noticing the usual swarm of seagulls dwindling to nothing.

"What hell has them so spooked?" A deckhand sporting rubbers and a fake Nike cap looked above.

"Heh, seems they don't care for this shit either." Another older crew member pushed a 7ft diameter jelly off the Kongō. "Too bad we can't use these motherfuckers for something useful."

Isao's quick nap ended abruptly as the ships sonar began to squawk. Rousing himself from the chair and relighting his cigar he staggered over to the monitor. "What the hell is it now?!" The sonar was returning something big, and it was heading right toward them. "Probably some whales or something." The disgruntled captain went to return to his uncomfortable rest as a deckhand rushed onto the bridge.

"Sir!"

"What-what is it now Suki!?"

"You-you better take a look at this!"

_**Beep-beep-beep **_The sonar continued to fill the bridge with its incessant electronic squeals.

Crash! "Shut the hell up! Useless piece of shit!" Isao threw a nearby empty whiskey bottle at the annoying device.

"Uh-sir?"

Isao let several angry puffs escape his mouth as he turned to the distraught crew member.

"What Suki?"

"You really-need to see this."

"This better not be another damn sea serpent like last time!" Isao remembered the crew reeling in a mass of what looked like a dinosaur several months back only to discover it was merely waterlogged garbage.

"Look out to starboard."

Grumbling the captain complied, grabbing a pair of binoculars. Isao adjusted the lenses until "it" came into sight. Speechless the captain watched a massive row of jagged spines cutting through the water like the dorsal fin of some monstrous shark. "Hold on to something Suki!"

Before the deckhand could react he was thrown to ground as the bridge went dark. The Kongō pitched and jostled as the 100ft fishing trawler lifted several feet from the large wake of the creature, spines disappearing mere yards from the miniscule ship.

As the lights flickered back on Isao rushed to the port side windows watching the ominous shape gracefully approach the Japanese coast line. Suki nursed his bruised forehead as he picked himself off the floor.

"What the hell was that captain?!"

The question took a moment to register with the awe struck Isao. "He's back."

"He?"

Isao stubbed out his cigar, watching the creature near the flickering lights on the coast. "Gojira…"

* * *

**0:2:45 Kadena Airbase, Okinawa **

Major Ueda sat back in the uncomfortable wooden chair, sweat drenched flight suit freezing beneath the cool air spewing from ducts above. The helicopter ride had been uneventful save for the fact no one said a word to the rescued pilot. Ueda figured these guys were a special Black Ops group considering their civilian attire and high grade equipment, then there was the fact they took him all the way to Kadena instead of bringing him back to Tsuiki. As of right now he could be dead to the world, his F-15 destroyed and no SOS call to his commanders at Tsuiki. The room was no normal debrief area, no windows, two chairs, one table, and a closed circuit cam peering down at the shaken fighter pilot. Ueda turned as the door slowly opened.

"Mornin' Major." General Stalgard stood about 5'11 sporting a grey comb over and sunken jowls, brimming with the over confidence of a top brass who'd never spent a day on the battlefield. The fighter pilot new instantly Stalgard was a self-absorb asshole, a buearucrat.

"General Stalgard, right?"

"Very good, I figured you'd recognize my voice from our earlier conversation." The neatly uniformed brass sat across from Ueda, placing a large folder down.

"How could I forget?" Major Ueda answered smugly as the general took out a pair of reading spectacles opening the folder.

"Over 16,000 hours in J and DJ Eagles, an active exchange tour with the 58th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Eglin, 10 years as an instructor and adversary pilot. You've got one hell of a record here Major…or do you prefer Nomad?"

"I'd prefer to know why the hell I'm at Kadena and not Tsuiki?"

Stalgard idly thumbed through several more documents. "Also says here you've gotten reprimanded several times for disorderly conduct and do not cooperate well with others."

"Does it say that you're starting to piss me off?"

Cough "You're addressing a superior officer here."

"Ha you're PACAF, not JSDF why should I bother?"

"I thought so." Stalgard reached for another folder. "That was one hell of a show out there Nomad, you managed to wreck a 65 million dollar jet and engage a prehistoric MUTO."

Ueda remained silent guessing the clever general was trying to get a statement out of him.

"What MUTO?"

"Very good Major. That still doesn't excuse you blatantly destroying your jet and losing your wingman."

"Are you threatening me?" The pilot sat forward trying to keep himself from decking the arrogant general.

"Let's call it incentive." Stalgard slid a sheet of paper to the angered Ueda. "You sign this, you get off with an honorable discharge. Refuse and then I've got to call up some people, have a tribunal, a general cluster fuck, and nobodies happy."

"Discharge?" The thought of not flying caused Ueda great distress. "But why a discharge?" He then noticed the monarch logo stamped atop the page. "You're not even with PACAF are you?"

"Well aren't we smart, yes I'm not with the U.S. Airforce. We're what you call a cleanup crew, Monarch was originally a private company yet the powers that be saw it necessary to federalize it and make it a part of the Pentagon. When some monster goes raising hell we're the ones they call up to handle it."

"And what exactly is handling it?"

"I think you've got a pretty good idea." Stalgard motioned to the paper. "By signing this you're no longer a member of the JSDF, you're working for us."

"So you're offering me job?" Ueda looked skeptically toward Stalgards unexpected offer.

"Well…let's call it a new lease on life."

"And if I refuse?"

Sigh. Stalgard looked down at his rolex. "You're career is over, a full tribunal, and probably charges. You're countries pretty strict when it comes to sentencing."

Ueda thought for a moment on his options. Clearly they had him in a corner, destroying his career or joining this arrogant bastard's team of monster hunters. The idea of leaving the JSDF, his life long career, was a hard pill to swallow for the fighter pilot. No personal connections would be broken, his parents were deceased, brother living out in the U.S. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Excellent decision Major. Welcome to Monarch!" Stalgard gave Ueda a cold and limp handshake, clearly a real snake.

_This guy won't hesitate to screw me over. _The fighter pilot thought as he looked at Stalgards fake smile.

An American solider rushed through the door distraught. "Sir! We've got a code 3!"

"So, Rodan and Godzilla are getting ready to duke it out?" The general looked like he'd expected the news.

"Y-yes their nearing the coast line."

"Jesus their going to fight?!" Ueda shot up from his chair.

Stalgard raised his hand. "Relax, this is to be expected."

"E-expected?! But, people will die!" Ueda shook as the images of Rodan tearing through his wingman's jet returned.

"People die Major, like I said it's to be expected." Stalgard answered coldly.

"You, how can you just sit there?" Ueda was growing angrier by the second.

"Send a small containment crew, we got the media outlets blocked son?" Stalgard turned to the soldier.

"Yes sir! Cover story is a freak tsunami." The soldier saluted then exited the room.

"Ueda?" Stalgard turned to the stunned fighter pilot. "Let's get you suited up, how familiar are you with Antarctica?"

"Antarctica?"

"We leave in half an hour."

* * *

To be continued...


End file.
